Longing, when will you come
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
बा रे पांडुरंगा केव्हां येशी भेटी । जाहालों हिंपुटी तुजवीण ॥1॥
तुजवीण सखें न वटे मज कोणी । वाटतें चरणीं घालूं मिठीं ॥ध्रु.॥
ओवाळावी काया चरणांवरोनि । केव्हां चक्रपाणी भेटशील ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे माझी पुरवीं आवडी । वेगीं घालीं उडी नारायणा ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
O dear Panduranga, when will You come to meet me? I have grown weary and forlorn without You. Without You, no one feels like a true friend. I long to throw my arms around Your feet. I would offer my body over and over at Your feet. When will You meet me, O Chakrapani? Says Tuka, fulfill my chitta's desire. Leap to me swiftly, O Narayana.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Dear Panduranga, when will you come to meet me? I have grown weary and forlorn without you. Without you, no one feels like a friend to me. I want to throw my arms around your feet. I would wave my body over your feet again and again. When will you meet me, Chakrapani? Tuka says: fulfill my desire. Leap to me quickly, Narayana.
What it means
This is the lover's question asked of an absent God: when, and how long. Tukaram measures everything by Vitthal's absence; without him even other people stop feeling like company. The body itself becomes an offering, waved over the feet the way a lamp is waved in worship, spent gladly for the sake of contact. The plea ends in motion, asking God not merely to arrive but to leap, as if the longing has run out of patience for a slow approach.
Longing and Separation
Cries from the dark night of the soul: remonstrances, complaints, and desperate yearning.
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